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Potash and Perlmutter: Their Copartnership Ventures and Adventures

<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> When Mr. Siegmund Lowenstein, proprietor of the O'Gorman-Henderson Dry-Goods Company of Galveston, Texas, entered Potash & Perlmutter's show-room, he expected to give only a small order. Mr. Lowenstein usually transacted his business with Abe Potash, who was rather conservative in matters of credit extension, more especially since Mr. Lowenstein was reputed to play auction pinochle with poor judgment and for high stakes. [Pg 48]Therefore, Mr. Lowenstein intended to buy a few staples, specialties of Potash & Perlmutter, and to reserve the balance of his spring orders for other dealers who entertained more liberal credit notions than did Abe Potash. Much to his gratification, however, he was greeted by Morris Perlmutter. "Ah, Mr. Perlmutter," he said; "glad to see you. Is Mr. Potash in?" "He's home, sick, to-day," Morris replied. Mr. Lowenstein clucked sympathetically. "You don't say so," he murmured. "That's too bad. What seems to be the trouble?" "He's been feeling mean all the winter," Morris replied. "The doctor says he needs a rest." "That's always the way with them hard-working fellers," Mr. Lowenstein went on. "I'm feeling pretty sick myself, I assure you, Mr. Perlmutter. I've been working early and late in my store. We never put in such a season before, and we done a phenomenal holiday business. We took stock last week and we're quite cleaned out. I bet you we ain't got stuck a single garment in any line—cloaks, suits, clothing or furs." "I'm glad to hear it," Morris said. "And we expect this season will be a crackerjack, too," he continued. "I had to give a few emergency orders to jobbers down South before I left Galveston, we had such an early rush of spring trade." "Is that so?" Morris commented. "I wish we could say the same in New York." [Pg 49]"You don't tell me!" Mr. Lowenstein rejoined. "Why, I was over by Garfunkel and Levy just now, and Mr. Levy says he is almost too busy. I looked over their line and I may place an order with them, although they ain't got too good an assortment, Mr. Perlmutter." "Far be it from me to knock a competitor's line, Mr. Lowenstein," Morris commented, "but I honestly think they get their designers off of Ellis Island." "Well," Mr. Lowenstein conceded, "of course I don't say they got so good an assortment what you have, Mr. Perlmutter, but they got a liberal credit policy." "Why, what's the matter with our credit policy?" Morris asked. "Nothing," Mr. Lowenstein replied. "Only a merchant like me, what wants to enlarge his business, needs a little better terms than thirty days. Ain't it? I'm improving my departments all the time, and I got to buy more fixtures, lay in a better stock and even build a new wing to my store building. All this costs money, Mr. Perlmutter, as you know, and contractors must be paid strictly for cash. Under the circumstances, I need ready money, and, naturally, the house what gives me the most generous credit gets my biggest order." "Excuse me for a moment," Morris broke in, "I think I hear the telephone." [Pg 50]He walked to the rear of the store, where the telephone bell had been trilling impatiently. "Hello," he said, taking the receiver off the hook. "Hello," said a voice from the other end of the line. "Is this Potash & Perlmutter?" "It is," said Morris. "Well, this is Garfunkel & Levy," the voice went on. "We understand Mr. Lowenstein, of Galveston, is in your store. Will you please and call him to the 'phone for a minute?" "This ain't no public pay station," Morris cried. "And besides, Mr. Lowenstein just left here." He banged the receiver onto the hook and returned at once to the front of the store. "Now, Mr. Lowenstein," he said, "what can I do for you?" And two hours later Mr. Lowenstein left the store with the duplicate of a twenty-four-hundred-dollar order in his pocket, deliveries to commence within five days; terms, ninety days net. "Well, Abe," Morris said the next day as his partner, Abe Potash, entered the show-room, "how are you feeling to-day?" "Mean, Mawruss," Abe replied. "I feel mean. The doctor says I need a rest. He says I got to go away to the country or I will maybe break down." "Is that so?" said Morris, deeply concerned. "Well, then, you'd better go right away, before you get real serious sick. Why not fix it so you can go away to-morrow yet?" [Pg 51]"To-morrow!" Abe exclaimed. "It don't go so quick as all that, Mawruss. You can't believe everything the doctors tell you. I ain't exactly dead yet, Mawruss. I'm like the feller what everybody says is going to fail, Mawruss. They give him till after Christmas to bust up, and then he does a fine holiday trade, and the first thing you know, Mawruss, he's buying real estate. No, Mawruss, I feel pretty mean, I admit, but I think a good two-thousand-dollar order would put me all right again, and so long as we wouldn't have no more trouble with designers, Mawruss, I guess I would stay right too." "Well, if that's the case," said Morris, beaming all over, "I guess I can fix you up. Siegmund Lowenstein, of Galveston, was in here yesterday, and I sold him a twenty-four-hundred-dollar order, including them forty-twenty-two's, and you know as well as I do, Abe, them forty-twenty-two's is stickers. We got 'em in stock now over two months, ever since Abe Magnus, of Nashville, turned 'em back on us." Abe's reception of the news was somewhat disappointing to Morris. He showed no elation, but selected a slightly-damaged cigar from the K. to O. first and second credit customers' box, and lit it deliberately before replying. "How much was that last order he give us, Mawruss?" he asked. "Four hundred dollars," Morris replied. "And what terms?" Abe continued. "Five off, thirty days." [Pg 52]"And what terms did you quote him yesterday?" asked Abe inexorably. "Ninety days, net," Morris murmured. Abe puffed vigorously at his cigar, and there was a long and significant silence. "I should think, Abe," Morris said at length, "the doctor wouldn't let you smoke cigars if you was nearly breaking down." "So long as you sell twenty-four hundred dollars at ninety days to a crook and a gambler like Siegmund Lowenstein, Mawruss," Abe replied, "one cigar more or less won't hurt me. If I can stand a piece of news like that, Mawruss, I guess I can stand anything. Why didn't you give him thirty days' dating, too, Mawruss?" At once Morris plunged into a long account of the circumstances attending the giving of Mr. Lowenstein's order, including the telephone message from Garfunkel & Levy, and at its conclusion Abe grew somewhat mollified. "Well, Mawruss," he said, "we took the order and I suppose we got to ship it. When you deal with a gambler like Lowenstein you got to take a gambler's chance. Anyhow, I ain't going to worry about it, Mawruss. Next week I'm going away for a fortnight." "Where are you going, Abe?" Morris asked. "To Dotyville, Pennsylvania," Abe replied. "We leave next Saturday. In the meantime I ain't going to worry, Mawruss." [Pg 53]"That's right, Abe," said Morris. "Sure it's right," Abe rejoined. "I'm going to leave you to do the worrying, and in the meantime I guess I'll look after getting out them forty-twenty-two's. Them forty-twenty-two's—them plum-color Empires was your idee, Mawruss. You said they'd make a hit with the Southern trade, Mawruss, and I hope they do, Mawruss, for, if they don't, there ain't much chance of our getting paid for them." A week later Abe Potash and his wife left for Dotyville, Pennsylvania, and two days afterward Morris received the following letter: <table class="tspec2" summary="correspondence"> <tr> <td class="tdright1" colspan="2">DOTY'S UNION HOUSE,</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdright" colspan="2">Dotyville, Pennsylvania.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdleft" colspan="2">Dear Morris:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdleft" colspan="2">How is things in the store? We got here the day before yesterday and I have got enough already. It is a dead town. The food what they give us reminds me when Pincus Vesell & me was partners together as new beginners and I was making southern trips by dollar and a half a day houses American plan. The man Doty what keeps the hotel also runs the general store also. He says a fellow by the name of Levy used to run it but he couldnt make it go; he made a failure of it. I tried to sell him a few garments but he claims to be overstocked at present and I believe him. I seen some styles what he tries to get rid of it what me & Pincus Vesell made up in small lots way before the Spanish war already. It is a dead town. Me and Rosie leave tonight for Pittsburg and we are going to stay with Rosies brother in law Hyman Margolius. Write us how things is going in the store to the Outlet Auction House Hyman Margolius prop 2132 4 & 6 North Potter Ave Pittsburg Pa. You should see that Miss Cohen billed them 4022s on date we packed them as Goldman[Pg 54] the shipping clerk forgot to give them to Arrow Dispatch when they called. That ain't our fault Morris. Write and tell me how things is going in the store and dont forget to tell Miss Cohen about the bill to S. Lowenstein as above</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdleft"></td> <td class="tdcenter">Yours Truly</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdleft"></td> <td class="tdright">A. POTASH.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdleft" colspan="2">P. S. How is things in the store?</td> </tr> </table> During the first three days of Abe Potash's vacation he had traveled by local train one hundred and twenty miles to Dotyville, and unpacked and packed two trunks under the shrill and captious supervision of Mrs. Potash. Then followed a tiresome journey to Pittsburgh with two changes of cars, and finally, on the morning of the fourth day, at seven-thirty sharp, he accompanied Hyman Margolius to the latter's place of business. There he took off his coat and helped Hyman and his staff of assistants to pile up and mark for auction a large consignment of clothing. After this, he called off the lot numbers while Hyman checked them in a first draft of a printed catalogue, and at one o'clock, with hands and face all grimy from contact with the ill-dyed satinets of which the clothing was manufactured, he partook of a substantial luncheon at Bleistift's Restaurant and Lunch-Room. "Well, Abe," Hyman said, "how do you like the auction business so far as you gone yet?" "It's a good, live business, Hymie," Abe replied; "but, the way it works out, it ain't always on the square. A fellow what wants to do his creditors buys[Pg 55] goods in New York, we'll say, for his business in—Galveston, we'll say, and then when he gets the goods he don't even bother to unpack 'em, Hymie, but ships 'em right away to you. And you examine 'em, and if they're all O. K., why, you send him a check for about half what it costs to manufacture 'em. Then he pockets the check, Hymie, and ten days later busts up on the poor sucker what sold him the goods in New York at ninety days. Ain't that right, Hymie?" "Why, that's the funniest thing you ever seen!" Hyman exclaimed. "What's the funniest thing I ever seen, Hymie?" "You talking about Galveston, for instance." Abe turned pale and choked on a piece of rosbraten. "What d'ye mean?" he gasped. "Why," said Hyman, "I just received a consignment of garments from a feller called Lowenstein in Galveston. He wrote me he was overstocked." "Overstocked?" Abe cried. "Overstocked? What color was them garments?" "Why, they was a kind of plum color," said Hyman. Abe put his hand to his throat and eased his collar. "And did you send him a check for 'em yet?" he croaked. "Not yet," said Hyman. Abe grabbed him by the collar. "Come!" he said. "Come quick by a lawyer!" [Pg 56]"What for?" Hyman asked. "You're pulling that coat all out of shape yet." "I'll buy you another one," Abe cried. "Them plum-color garments is mine, and I want to get 'em back." Hyman paid the bill, and on their way down the street they passed a telegraph office. "Wait," Abe cried, "I must send Mawruss a wire." He entered and seized a telegraph form, which he addressed to Potash & Perlmutter. "Don't ship no more goods to Lowenstein, Morris. Will explain by letter to-night," he wrote. "Now, Hymie," he said after he had paid for the dispatch, "we go by your lawyer." Five minutes later they were closeted with Max Marcus, senior member of the firm of Marcus, Weinschenck & Grab, and a lodge brother of Hymie Margolius. Max made a specialty of amputation cases. He was accustomed to cashing missing arms and legs at a thousand dollars apiece for the victims of rolling-mill and railway accidents, and when the sympathetic jury brought in their generous verdict Max paid the expert witnesses and pocketed the net proceeds. These rarely fell below five thousand dollars. "Sit down, Hymie. Glad to see you, Mr. Potash," Max said, stroking a small gray mustache with a five-carat diamond ring. "What can I do for you?" "I got some goods belonging to Mr. Potash what a fellow called Lowenstein in Galveston, Texas,[Pg 57] shipped me," said Hymie, "and Mr. Potash wants to get 'em back." "Replevin, hey?" Max said. "That's a little out of my line, but I guess I can fix you up." He rang for a stenographer. "Take this down," he said to her, and turned to Abe Potash. "Now, tell us the facts." Abe recounted the tale Mr. Lowenstein had related to Morris Perlmutter, by which Lowenstein made it appear that he was completely out of stock. Next, Hyman Margolius produced Siegmund Lowenstein's letter which declared that Lowenstein was disposing of the Empire cloaks because he was overstocked. "S'enough," Max declared. "Tell, Mr. Weinschenck to work it up into an affidavit," he continued to the stenographer, "and bring us in a jurat." A moment later she returned with a sheet of legal cap, on the top of which was typewritten: "Sworn to before me this first day of April, 1904." "Sign opposite the brace," said Max, pushing the paper at Abe, and Abe scrawled his name where indicated. "Now, hold up your right hand," said Max, and Abe obeyed. "Do you solemnly swear that the affidavit subscribed by you is true?" Max went on. "What affidavit?" Abe asked. "Why, the one Weinschenck is going to draw when he comes back from lunch, of course," Max replied. "Sure it's true," said Abe. [Pg 58]"All right," Max concluded briskly. "Now give me a check for fifty dollars for my fees, five dollars for a surety company bond, and five dollars sheriff's fees, and I'll get out a replevin order on the strength of that affidavit in half an hour, and have a deputy around to the store at three o'clock to transfer the goods from Hymie to you." "Sixty dollars is pretty high for a little thing like that, ain't it, Max?" said Hymie. "High?" Max cried indignantly. "High? Why, if you wasn't a lodge brother of mine, Hymie, I wouldn't have stirred a hand for less than a hundred." Thus rebuked, Abe paid over the sixty dollars, and Hymie and he went back to the store. Precisely at three a deputy sheriff entered the front door and flashed a gold badge as big as a dinner-plate. His stay was brief, and in five minutes he had relieved Abe of all his spare cigars and departed, leaving only a certified copy of the replevin order and a strong smell of whisky to signalize the transfer of the Empire gowns from Hymie to Abe. Hardly had he banged the door behind him when a messenger boy entered and handed a telegram to Abe. "Ain't shipped no goods but the 4022's," it read. "Have wired Lowenstein to return the 4022s. MORRIS." "Fine! Fine!" Abe exclaimed. He tipped the boy a dime and was about to acquaint Hyman with[Pg 59] the good news, when another messenger boy entered and delivered a second telegram to Abe. It read as follows: "Lowenstein wires he insists on delivery entire order complete, otherwise he will sue. What shall I wire him? MORRIS." Abe seized his hat and dashed down the street to the telegraph office. "Gimme a blank," he said to the operator, who handed him a whole padful. For the next twenty minutes Abe scribbled and tore up by turns until he finally evolved a satisfactory missive. This he handed to the operator, who read it with a broad grin and passed it back at once. "Wot d'ye take me for?" he said. "A bum? Dere's ladies in de main office." Abe glared at the operator and began again. "Here," he said to the operator after another quarter of an hour of scribbling and tearing up, "send this." It was in the following form: Don't send no more goods to Lowenstein    "      "    "     "     wires  "  nobody "Fourteen words," the operator said. "Fifty-four cents." "What's that?" Abe cried. "What yer trying to do? Make money on me? That ain't no fourteen words. That's nine words." [Pg 60]"It is, hey?" the operator rejoined. "Quit yer kiddin'. Dat's fourteen words. Ditto marks don't go, see?" "You're a fresh young feller," said Abe, paying over fifty-four cents, "and I got a good mind to report you to the head office." The operator laughed raucously. "G'wan!" he said. "Beat it, or I'll sick de cops onter yer. It's agin the law to cuss in Pittsburgh, even by telegraft." When Abe returned to the Outlet Auction House's store Hyman was busy stacking up the plum-color gowns in piles convenient for shipping. "Well, Abe," he said, "I thought you was here for a vacation. You're doing some pretty tall hustling for a sick man, I must say." "I'll tell you the truth, Hymie," Abe replied, "I ain't got no time to be sick. It ain't half-past three yet, and I guess I'll take a couple of them garments and see what I can do with the jobbing and retail trade in this here town." "Don't you think you'd better take it easy for a while, Abe?" Hyman suggested. "I am taking it easy," said Abe. "So long as I ain't working I'm resting, ain't it, Hymie? And you know as well as I do, Hymie, selling goods never was work to me. It's a pleasure, Hymie, I assure you." He placed two of the plum-colored Empire gowns under his arm, and thrusting his hat firmly on the back of his head made straight for the dry-goods[Pg 61] district. Two hours later he returned, wearing a broad smile that threatened to engulf his stubby black mustache between his nose and his chin. "Hymie," he said, "I'm sorry I got to disturb that nice pile you made of them garments. I'll get right to work myself and assort the sizes." "Why, what's the trouble now, Abe?" Hyman asked. "I disposed of 'em, Hymie," Abe replied. "Two hundred to Hamburg and Weiss. Three hundred to the Capitol Credit Outfitting Company, and five hundred to Feinroth and Pearl." "Hold on there, Abe!" Hymie exclaimed. "You only got six hundred, and you sold a thousand garments." "I know, Hymie," said Abe, "but I'm going home to-morrow, and I got a month in which to ship the balance." "Going home?" Hyman cried. "Sure," said Abe. "I had a good long vacation, and now I got to get down to business." One morning, two weeks later, Abe sat with his feet cocked up on his desk in the show-room of Potash & Perlmutter's spacious cloak and suit establishment. Between his teeth he held a fine Pittsburgh cheroot at an angle of about ninety-five degrees to his protruding under-lip, and he perused with relish the business-trouble column of the Daily Cloak and Suit Record. "Now, what do you think of that?" he exclaimed. [Pg 62]"What do I think of what, Abe?" Morris inquired. For answer Abe thrust the paper toward his partner with one hand, and indicated a scare headline with the other. "Fraudulent Bankruptcy in Galveston," it read. "A petition in bankruptcy was filed yesterday against Siegmund Lowenstein, doing business as the O'Gorman-Henderson Dry-Goods Company, in Galveston, Texas. When the Federal receiver took charge of the bankrupt's premises they were apparently swept clean of stock and fixtures. It is understood that Lowenstein has fled to Matamoros, Mexico, where his wife preceded him some two weeks ago. The liabilities are estimated at fifty thousand dollars, and the only asset is the store building, which is valued at ten thousand dollars and is subject to mortgages aggregating about the same amount. The majority of the creditors are in New York City and Boston." Morris returned the paper to his partner without comment. "You see, Mawruss," said Abe, as he lit a fresh cheroot. "Sometimes it pays to be sick. Ain't it?" <hr style="width: 65%;" /> [Pg 63] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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